Preparing Children for School in Child Care Centres

Occasionally, we get asked by parents “Do children really need to be exposed to early learning programs before he or she goes to school?” The answer we always give them is a resounding ‘yes’!

Our own two children went to a Kindergarten program. My oldest daughter, now 10 years old, went full time and my younger son, now 6 years old, only went 1 day per week. We certainly noticed the difference in the smoothness of their transition and readiness for school. Although we provided a loving and caring home where early education was valued, we could not create an environment similar to long daycare or school where the social skills are challenged and developed in a unique environment away from us as protective parents. We realised that exposing our own children to such a learning environment benefits them hugely in their transition to school, builds confidence and resilience.

Attending a long daycare service like Parkside Early Learning Centre or a Kindergarten Program exposes children to larger group learning with activities planned specifically for their developmental stage, individual needs or personal interests. All this is done by well qualified staff who build ongoing relationships with the children and after a while know them very well. The difference of early years education to school is that all our experiences at Parkside ELC are play-based in nature. Educators observe the children and use their natural and current interests to further develop their knowledge and development. Aside from these planned and spontaneous activities children can explore their social skills in a larger group of children. This exposure to diversity builds confidence over time and resilience. Such an environment cannot be re-created on the same scale at home. Therefore, children who are not attending a pre-school or Kindergarten Program may lack in the areas of social and emotional skills.

This personal insight is well backed up by recent research:

The website for the Early Learning: Everyone benefits campaign summarises several benefits of early education from an Australian Study done by the Melbourne Institute. Here some examples:

Australian and international research tells us that attending early learning improves children’s educational outcomes at school up to 13 years later.

Children who attend a high-quality early childhood program in the year before school are up to 40 per cent ahead of their peers by the time they reach Year 3 in primary school.

By age five, a child’s vocabulary will predict their educational success and outcomes at age 30.

Another interesting source to gain more research based information is the Life Course Centre. There you can find several in-depth studies about the positive long-term implications of early education and care programs for Australian children.

As parents, we want the best start for our children. This includes the transition to big school!

So… the question is not any more whether we should send our child to long day care or a Kindergarten Program but WHEN! We encourage you to come and see our centre for yourselves. Meet the owners, director and educators together with your child and get a feel for the place. Once you have enrolled we encourage you to prepare your child for the transition from being at home with you to a pre-school program. The Queensland Department of Education provides some helpful tips on how to transition your child successfully on their website:

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About the Author

Carolin Riley is the co-owner of Parkside Early Learning Centre in Gympie together with her husband Andrew Riley. She has worked in childcare for over 10 years in countries such as Germany, England, New Zealand and Australia.

Parkside Facebook Reviews

An approachable and caring centre who have always taken on board suggestions, opinions and welcomed our family into the centre. A wonderful recent outdoor area transformation.
Owners that took the time to get to know us. Staff who arrange some fantastic adventures and activities for my child when I am unable to and I thank them for that.
Every childcare centre has flaws but it takes a good team to keep it going and this place continues to do that.read more

As only a new family to Parkside all ai have to say is wow! Family owned and operated is a huge thing and the owner Mr Andrew is amazing, barely talks to me but he completely focus's on my children, even getting down to their level to talk to them. The other team members are all fantastic, my toddler and 8yo love it there. Cannot fault them :) Highly recommended!read more

The owners Andrew and Carolyn are awesome. They are hard working honest folk who have created an environment where the staff are thriving . As a result the children and families are really well looked after. Could not rate them highly enough!read more

After returning to work fulltime i starting looking at all the daycare centres in gympie. I found it quite daunting to be putting the trust of looking after my son in someone elses hands.
After finding parkside early learning centre with their amazing staff, very accommodating and friendly nature was a wonderful relief.
Now 7 months later my son is growing mentally in leaps and bounds, and it is now a struggle to get him to leave in the afternoons.
Thankyou to all the parkside staff for their amazing contributions to make my son feel safe, and expand his learning capabilities.read more

Last year we were looking around for a new kindy for our son, we visited Parkside and 9 months on my little boy still talks about how great the place is, sadly we didn't put our little guy in at Parkside only because school was starting within a few months, we do however look forward to sending our littlest one to Parkside, when the time comes for him to start. We love seeing the owners of Parkside at community events and it really shows how committed they are to the children of Gympie region, as a mother of 3 and someone who has worked with children for 9 years, I know a quality centre when I see one, it also just has that vibe a parent needs to reassure them when they walk in and look around, all the staff and the owners should be incredibly proud of there hard work, we look forward to being apart of the Parkside community in the future.read more

Parkside is definitely one of Gympie's best child care centres. Andrew has carefully picked his staff and it shows. They are all wonderful. My kids love coming to day care. My daughter's speech has improved since interacting and communicating with other children. They learn new things everyday and love all the different activities. Yogo is one of their favourites! I can't thank the staff enough for being so kind and Caring to my girls.read more

I just wont to say thank you so much for having my girls best center i have been to sad that we have to move but will keep in touch thank u to all the lovely staff thea leia and i will miss u allread more

I love teaching Yoga here at Parkside. The staff are so supportive, caring and interactive. The children are sunny shiny faces that light up your day. Parkside, thank you for asking me to share Yoga with your little ones... <3 What a treat... Paula from free2b Yoga & PTread more

Hope u have a great last day today Logan. Its so unfortunate that u have to leave Parkside. But we have to move. We have been a part of the Parkside family for almost a year now with 2 of my boys going there. I would like to say a big thank u so much to all the stuff at Parkside for everything u have done for my 2 boys. When Jay stated there after the September holidays last year he couldn't talk to well. But after being with u for only a few weeks his speech picked up so much. I didn't think he would be able to start prep because of it. But u guys got him there. And Logan over the year he has picked up so much going to Parkside. He looks forward to seeing the bus pull up for him every week. Its going to be sad to say good by but its something we must do. Thank u again from our family. ���read more

A wonderful centre with lovely educators who are fantastic with the kids. We investigated all the centres in town and this was the only one where my baby daughter relaxed, smiled and interacted with the staff. On picking her up after her first day, I came in to hear her laughing, not to mention the lovely little photo collage. Can't rate this place highly enough!read more

The smiles on the kids faces say it all!
Andrew, Carolin and all of the teaching staff put their heart and soul into this place on a daily basis and it definitely shows. Whilst having healthy meals prepared for the kids definitely takes a weight off my mind.read more

We love this centre. They have kind caring teachers and we love that they teach foreign languages. We also love the way that Mr Andrew and Miss Carolin are excited to be teaching young children, with their own children in mind.read more

When my son 1st started at parkside we both cried, it was our 1st day away from one another!! The Teachers were amazing!! They managed to settle my than two year old down like magic and to my surprise he wanted to keep coming back!! My son has leant so much since signing up at parkside!! His ABC being a proud moment � but... most importantly he has endless fun with friends and staff in a friendly, safe environment.
I absolutely love all the painting, crafts and photos he brings home just for mum and dad, they melt our hearts. The new free healthy breakfast/lunches are great too even for my little fussy eater. Definitely give parkside a go you won't regret it!!read more

I work at Parkside as the Early Childhood Teacher and never been happier..I am passionate about teaching young children but I know Carolin and Andrew the owners are more passionate along with all the staff who share their days with the children in their care.read more